Second unvaccinated child dies of measles in Texas amid outbreak
Apr 06, 2025
(CNN) — A school-aged child died at a Texas hospital where they were receiving treatment for measles, marking the second death of a minor in the state linked to the ongoing outbreak.
“We are deeply saddened to report that a school-aged child who was recently diagnosed with measles has pa
ssed away. The child was receiving treatment for complications of measles while hospitalized,” Aaron Davis, vice president of UMC Health System in Lubbock, Texas, told CNN in a statement.
“It is important to note that the child was not vaccinated against measles and had no known underlying health conditions,” he continued.
A Trump administration official told The New York Times the child’s cause of death is “still being looked at.”
Texas’ first measles death linked to the ongoing outbreak was in an unvaccinated school-aged child in February. A death in New Mexico remains under investigation.
The outbreak – now spanning Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and possibly Kansas – reached at least 569 cases Friday, according to data obtained from state health departments.
Texas has reported 481 outbreak-associated cases as of Friday. Nearly all were unvaccinated, and 70% were among children and teens. Many of those cases have broken out in West Texas, with Gaines County accounting for nearly 66% of cases.
In Lubbock County, which accounts for nearly 7% of the state’s confirmed cases, UMC Health has started offering drive-up measles screenings at both of its 24/7 urgent care centers.
New Mexico has reported 54 cases, and Oklahoma reported 10 cases – eight confirmed and two probable – as of Friday. Cases in Kansas, which the state health department said may be linked to the outbreak, reached 24 as of Wednesday.
Many of those cases are among unvaccinated people, and experts say the numbers are most likely a severe undercount because many cases go unreported.
Most of the reported cases are in people under 18, and experts worry about increasing hospitalizations, especially in younger children who are at higher risk of complications.
“The more children who get the disease means that there’s an increased chance that there will be more children getting sicker with complications from measles,” said Dr. Christina Johns, a pediatric emergency physician at PM Pediatrics in Annapolis, Maryland.
CNN did not immediately hear back from inquiries sent to the Texas Department of Health and the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has downplayed the severity of the outbreak and faced criticism of the agency’s response.
Kennedy’s response to the outbreak has been “abysmal,” said Dr. Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital.
Offit highlighted the secretary’s history of decrying vaccines and minimizing the risk of measles.
“The disease has returned because a critical percentage of parents have chosen not to vaccinate their children, in large part because of misinformation provided by people like RFK Jr,” he said.
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